A lovely song by the late Alan Bell; windmills in days of old used canvas for the blades, and were regarded by some as the “ships of the land”.   Windmills were largely disappearing at the time Alan wrote this song; its jobs were taken over by newer technologies.  However, even with the resurgence of windmills for creating electrical power, there’s a certain romance of the older styles of windmills that are mostly encountered at historic sites or the odd appearance on private land as a folly. The line about being “ready for tilting” is in reference to the 1605 novel Don Quixote charging, or tilting, at windmills he perceived as enemy “giants”. The song is best performed slowly with a steady rhythm, mimicking the movement and works of the old mills.

 

D                     A                     G                           D
In days gone by, when the world was much younger

        D                         A            G                     D
Men harnessed the wind to work for mankind

D                      A                   G                D
Seamen built tall ships to sail on the ocean

           D                         A                      G                 D
While landsmen built windmills the corn for to grind

 

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Around and around and around went the big sails
Turning the shaft and the great wooden wheel
Creaking and groaning, the millstones kept turning
Grinding to flour the good corn from the field

 

In Flanders and Spain and the lowlands of Holland
And the kingdoms of England and Scotland and Wales
Windmills sprang up all along the wild coastline
Ships of the land with their high canvas sails

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In Lancashire, lads work hard at the good earth
Ploughing and sowing as the seasons declare
Waiting to reap all the rich, golden harvest
While the miller is idle, his mill to repair

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Windmills of wood all blackened by weather
Windmills of stone, glaring white in the sun
Windmills like giants ready for tilting
Windmills that died in the gales and are gone.

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